Boat apparatus for lowering lifeboats to the water from ships



Dec. 27, 132. SACERDOT] 1,892,586

BOAT APPARATUS FOR LOWERING LIFEBOATS TO THE WATER FROM SHIPS Filed Nov. 4, 1931 Camilla k dc'erdaiz'.

A iiofz y Lam Patented Dec. 27, 1932 cmnLo sacmrnorr, or MILAN, ITALY Boar arramrus-roit'nowmme LIFE-BOATS TO THE'WAT'ER rnoM sHIrs Application mm: November 4, 1931". Serial No, 572,987.

The pnesentinvent-iom relates to about ap paratus for lowering line-boats: to: the water from ships and particularly to boat davits of thetype in which. the? arms ordavsits supporting the boat extendsv laterally from the ship'as a result of a slacking on the. life-boat suspension ropes;

In a. well known; system 015 davits, known: as davitsvon the quadrant. type, thev boat supporting'rarm constituting thedavit is-nor mally in: itsupright inboard positionand. it

is mounted" on: the davit support or base so as to move automatically to an. inclined. out board positions roliing along; a: curved surrface' or surfacessiof the. support to extend: towards the: seafrom the ship: when1 the ,sus:-- pension ropes, from: which the lite-boat hangs, are slackened. i 1

. The present invention; has tor its object a- 6 new and improved form of davit of theqnadirant' type referred to above; One object. of the present invention: is to render more per-- feet the davit: displacement cm the? of the ropes dnringthelowering'operation ot the life-boat from the: ship;

Another object ofi this invention consists in. a; a device in which the lowering 02E the. lifeboatis effected more safiely and: quickly without shocks or tosses; the lowering being tlrereforemore sosfit and uniform,partic1rlarly at the transition: pointbetween the end of" the oscillating motionof the d avit and the beginningof the descent of the-boat. 1 v The device accordingto: the present invention is substantially distinguished in that the arms" ord avi-ts carryingat' their outer end the pulleys on which the suspension ropes} of the life-boat mm are mounted on the davitsupport orbasesso as 'to be prevented 40 from disengagement therewith. By means of this engagement the davits are positively guided during their displacements from the lowermost to the uppermost positions, the first of which the life-boat issafelyp'l aced well out from the ship over'tlre sea, while in the second position the centre of gravity of the life-boat lies much further out oi align-- ment with the geometrical centre of rotation of the davit when the davit leaves upright position.

' According to'onefeature of this invention in apreferred: embodiment, the davits are each-provided with a forked end ortail: at their lower: ends, the twov arms of this forked tail: being engaged with suitably designed tracks or pathscarried by the side girders supportingand embracingsaid davits; Among other useful and improved featuresof'the device according to the invention may be'noted aspecial supporting path or track arranged so as to'prevent any sliding motion of" the'davit on the support, whatever the inclination of the plane on which the davit runs may be, whereby davits of reduced length are easily provided with the same surety of automatic'lowering. According toanother feature of this invention, between the Winch of the apparatus and the pulley on which runs the suspension rope a: system of pulley blocks is inserted, said system being adapted to impart a suitably increased number of turns to the centrifugal brake acting on the drum of the winch soxas tolimit its speed of rotation andfconse quently the speed of fall of the boat, and adapted also to equalize the effortrequired in raising of'theboat. The forked ends or branches of the davits are each provided with suitable rolls engaged with and running in suitable guide-ways in the support,'one. of said guide-ways being provided-with a pro-' jection at its upper endto retain the roll until the boat reaches the uppermost point of'itsraising movement so as to prevent, up to this moment, any inboard motion of the 35 davit. H i

The lateral displacements of the davit may be prevented in many ways, for example by providing with suitableprojecting edges the rolls engaged into the guide ways referred 30 to, which in this case are shaped as slots, or by providing the supports with side girders embracing thelower portions of the davit so as to guide them, or by bifurcating the lower portion of the davit and locating the bifurcated end astride a projecting plate onthe support. The invention will be more closely described with reference'to'the annexed drawp iii-gin whichz ii Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of my invention.

Fig. 2 is a cross-section on the line k' B of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line C-D of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig.- 5 is a side elevation of' a modified form.

Fig. 6 IS a cross-section ,on the llne E-F of Fi 5.

In both the embodiments shown in the drawing, the davits 1 are each provided at their outer end 2 with a pulley 3 in which runs the suspension rope -& of the life-boat. The 'davits are each provided with a pulley block 5-6, placed on thewdavit arm. at a suitable distance from the end 2, and acting in conjunction withthe pulley block 78 mounted on the support 9, said pulley blocks so constituting a system of pulley blocks. The branches 1011 of the forked end of each davit 1 are provided witli rolls 12, 13 engaged with and running in suitableguideways or tracks 14, .18 on the support 9. The guide way 1 1 ends at the lowermost point in a curved seat 15 the radius of which is larger than the radius of the roll 12, the guide way 18 being on the other hand shapedin an angular form with its endturnedup wardly and outwardly. r 7

The arm 1 is guided in its displacements by and between the two side girders 16, 17

solid with the base or support 9. In lieu of these two side girders on the base, the davit 'may be guided andprevented from lateral displacement by shaping the lower portion of the davit as two plates 19. 20 embracingbe. tween them another vertical plate-9 solid with they base or support 9, as shown in Figs. 5, 6.

The operation of the illustrated device is the following. Y

Supposing the lite boat lowered on the seat, theraising of the boat is effected bvdrawing the suspension ropes actingon the end 21 by a suitable lifting .winch of any type. The weight of the boat suspended onthe other end of the ropes acts onthe highest point 2 of the davit urging theroll 12 towards the right in the drawing) and consequently the roll 13 willremain engaged with the top of the slot 18. When the boat. reaches the level of the davit, the suspension books of the boat-catch on the end2 of the davit in a manner well. known to one skilled in the art. It now the winch continues to operate on the rope 21 the system of pulley blocks 56 and 7+8, which until this moment has acted as a mere rope guiding pulley, enters into action and the pulley blocks 5 6 and 78 approach each to the other while the davit is obliged to rise.

The roll 12 is drawn towards the left (in scend along the guide way 18, so that the davit turns and rises coming inboard.

The rope, during these last moments, will be drawn in by a length equal to three times the approach of the blocks constituting the system of pulleys, so making it possible to maintain nearly even the effort for the raising ofthe boat.- 1 It is self evident that instead of the three-fold rope on the double blocks one may provide a system with a larger number of pulleys or a simple pulley.

-Inorderto.efiect the lowering of the life boat, it is sufficient to slack the suspension ropes-4;; all the system will be displacedtowards the left reaching the position indicated by 'full lines in the drawing, and the above shown operationwillbe repeated in opposite ordern The lowering is effected automatically by the centrifugally braked drum of the winch and, on account ofthe illustrated device according to the invention, it is possible to eilect the'lowering of the boat onthe sea more quickly andsafelyi without shocks or tosses In-efi'ectthe speed of thecentrifugal brake is increased in the first moment, during the displacement or inclination of the davit, so that said speed will be nearly equal to the speed of the fall of the boat during the second phase of the operation, thepath described by the upper end of the davit being larger than twice the length through-which the pulley blocks move. As a consequence 'ofthis fact it is'possible to obtain 'a regularand soft lowering. I

Theguidin'g slot 18 :shaped as an angle with a vertical arm,'has for its object to prevent during the raising of the boat the davit from moving towards. its upright position until the boat reaches the uppermost end 20f the davit: in effect during the first phases of theraising of the boat the-length of theropedrawn in at 21 is equal. to the distance through whieh-theboat is raised and thepulley system does not operate because the force necessary for moving the pulleys is higher than that whic-hthe winch exerts on the rope for raising the bo'atzthe pulley system will so act as, aqsimplei rope-guiding system. When the boat reaches the end of its rise and engages its hooks on-the end'2 of the davit,the pulleyblocks willact and exert onthe'davit a triple force sufficient to raisefthe davit.

It is evident thatthe practicaldetails of the device illustrated may be varied at will and according to the particular condition of the case, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

f WhatI claimjis: '1. In an apparatus from ships, a base having two guide tracks therein, a davit having at its lower end members engaging said tracks, one of said tracks comprising-a substantially horizontal por.-,

for lowering life boats tending upwardly from one end of said horizontal portion.

2. In an apparatus for lowering life boats from ships, a base having two guide tracks therein, said tracks being nearer to the center line of the ship than the other, a davit having at its lower end members engaging said tracks, the inner one of said tracks comprising a substantially horizontal portion and a subl0 stantially vertical portion extending upwardly from the inner end of said horizontal portion.

3. In an apparatus for lowering life boats from ships, of the type having davits which are turned by the same ropes which serve to raise and lower the boats, said ropes running on pulleys at the outer ends of the davits, that improvement which comprises a base having therein an outer curved guide convex towards the outside of the ship and an inner curved guide convex to the inside of the ship, said inner curved guide having at its lower end a substantially horizontal portion extending towards the outside of the ship, and members on said davit cooperating with and guided by said guides.

4. In an apparatus as claimed in claimB, said base comprising two parallel members and a central plate in which at least one of said guides is formed, said davit being between said parallel members and having bifurcations at its lower end on each side of said plate.

5. In an apparatus as claimed in claim 3,

said base comprising a single plate in which said guides are formed, and said davit having bifurcations at its lower end on each side of said plate.

In testimony whereof, I a-flix'my signature.

CAMILLO SACERDOTI. 

